THE BATTLE IN THE PLAIN
The from the of the to the of the it not have been great, for all three of the of Tario’s unscathed.
Carthoris, still Thuvia to his breast, came to the ground catlike, upon his feet, the for the girl. Scarce had his touched the of this new than his out for use. But though the room was lighted, there was no of enemy about.
Carthoris looked toward Jav. The man was white with fear.
“What is to be our fate?” asked the Heliumite. “Tell me, man! Shake off your terror long to tell me, so I may be prepared to sell my life and that of the Princess of Ptarth as as possible.”
“Komal!” Jav. “We are to be by Komal!”
“Your deity?” asked Carthoris.
The Lotharian his head. Then he pointed toward a low at one end of the chamber.
“From will he come upon us. Lay your sword, fool. It will but him the more and make our the worse.”
Carthoris smiled, his long-sword the more firmly.
Presently Jav gave a moan, at the same time pointing toward the door.
“He has come,” he whimpered.
Carthoris and Thuvia looked in the direction the Lotharian had indicated, to see some and in form; but to their they saw the and great-maned of a banth, the largest that either had seen.
Slowly and with the into the room. Jav had to the floor, and was his in the same manner that he had toward Tario. He spoke to the as he would have spoken to a being, with it for mercy.
Carthoris Thuvia and the banth, his to the beast’s victory over them. Thuvia toward Jav.
“Is this Komal, your god?” she asked.
Jav affirmatively. The girl smiled, and then, past Carthoris, she toward the carnivore.
In low, she spoke to it as she had spoken to the of the Golden Cliffs and the the of Lothar.
The its growling. With and purr, it came to the girl’s feet. Thuvia toward Carthoris.
“It is but a banth,” she said. “We have nothing to from it.”
Carthoris smiled.
“I did not it,” he replied, “for I, too, it to be only a banth, and I have my long-sword.”
Jav sat up and at the him—the girl her in the of the that he had divine, while Komal his against her side.
“So this is your god!” laughed Thuvia.
Jav looked bewildered. He he Komal or not, for so is the power of that though we know that we have been a sham, yet still we to admit the of our new-found convictions.
“Yes,” he said, “this is Komal. For the of Tario have been to this to his maw, for Komal must be fed.”
“Is there any way out of this to the of the city?” asked Carthoris.
Jav shrugged.
“I do not know,” he replied. “Never have I been here before, have I to do so.”
“Come,” Thuvia, “let us explore. There must be a way out.”
Together the three approached the through which Komal had entered the that was to have their deaths. Beyond was a low-roofed lair, with a small door at the end.
This, to their delight, opened to the of an ordinary latch, them into a arena, by of seats.
“Here is where Komal is in public,” Jav. “Had Tario it would have been here that our had been sealed; but he too much blade, red man, and so he us all to the pit. I did not know how closely were the two chambers. Now we may easily the and the city gates. Only the may the right of way, and, their secret, I that they have power to us.”
Another door to a of steps that rose from the level through the seats to an at the of the hall. Beyond this was a straight, corridor, directly through the to the gardens at the side.
No one appeared to question them as they advanced, Komal by the girl’s side.
“Where are the people of the palace—the jeddak’s retinue?” asked Carthoris. “Even in the city as we came through I saw of a being, yet all about are of a population.”
Jav sighed.
“Poor Lothar,” he said. “It is a city of ghosts. There are a thousand of us left, who once were numbered in the millions. Our great city is by the of our own imaginings. For our own needs we do not take the trouble to these of our brain, yet they are to us.
“Even now I see great the avenue, to and in the of their duties. I see and children laughing on the balconies—these we are to materialize; but yet I see them—they are here. . . . But why not?” he mused. “No longer need I Tario—he has done his worst, and failed. Why not indeed?
“Stay, friends,” he continued. “Would you see Lothar in all her glory?”
Carthoris and Thuvia their assent, more out of than they the of his mutterings.
Jav at them for an instant, then, with a of his hand, cried: “Look!”
The that met them was awe-inspiring. Where there had been but and swards, and doors, now a of happy, laughing people.
“It is the past,” said Jav in a low voice. “They do not see us—they but live the old past of Lothar—the and Lothar of antiquity, which upon the of Throxus, of the five oceans.
“See those fine, men along the avenue? See the girls and the upon them? See the men them with love and respect? Those be up from their ships which at the at the city’s edge.
“Brave men, they—ah, but the of Lothar has faded! See their weapons. They alone arms, for they the five to places where were. With their passed the of the Lotharians, leaving, as the rolled by, a of cowards.
“We war, and so we not our in ways. Thus our undoing, for when the and the green upon us we do but flee. But we the of the days of our glory—it is the memory of these which we upon our enemies.”
As Jav speaking, the picture faded, and once more, the three took up their way toward the gates, along avenues.
Twice they Lotharians of and blood. At of them and the which they must have as Komal, the citizens and fled.
“They will word of our to Tario,” Jav, “and soon he will send his after us. Let us that our is correct, and that their are powerless against minds of their unreality. Otherwise we are doomed.
“Explain, red man, to the woman the that I have to you, that she may meet the with a counter-suggestion of immunity.”
Carthoris did as Jav him; but they came to the great gates without of developing. Here Jav set in motion the that rolled the huge, wheel-like gate aside, and a moment later the three, by the banth, out into the plain Lothar.
Scarce had they a hundred yards when the of many men them. As they they saw a company of upon the plain from the gate through which they had but just passed.
Upon the above the gate were a number of Lotharians, among Jav Tario. The at them, all the of his mind upon them. That he was making a to his was apparent.
Jav white, and to tremble. At the moment he appeared to the of his conviction. The great toward the and growled. Carthoris himself Thuvia and the enemy and, them, the outcome of their charge.
Suddenly an came to Carthoris.
“Hurl your own against Tario’s!” he to Jav. “Let us see a two mentalities.”
The to the Lotharian, and in another moment the three solid ranks of who and at the company from the city.
Jav was a new man the moment his him and Tario. One almost have the man these of his power to be and blood.
With they the of Tario. Barbed thick and fast. Men fell, and the ground was red with gore.
Carthoris and Thuvia had in the of it all with their knowledge of the truth. They saw after from the gate in perfect step to the company which Tario had sent to them.
They saw Jav’s until all about them rolled a sea of fighting, warriors, and the in about the field.
Jav and Tario to have all else the that to and fro, the the and the city.
The close Thuvia and Carthoris. The a toward Jav.
“Come!” he to the girl. “Let them out their empty battle—neither, evidently, has power to the other. They are like two at one another. While they are we may as well be our to an attempt to the passage through the to the plain beyond.”
As he spoke, Jav, from the for an instant, his words. He saw the girl move to the Heliumite. A look to the Lotharian’s eyes.
The thing that that look had been in his since he had upon Thuvia of Ptarth. He had not it, however, until now that she about to pass out of his existence.
He his mind upon the Heliumite and the girl for an instant.
Carthoris saw Thuvia of Ptarth step with hand. He was at this toward him, and it was with a full that he let his close upon hers, as together they away from Lothar, into the woods, and their steps toward the mountains.
As the Lotharian had toward them, Thuvia had been to Carthoris voice a new plan.
“Remain here with Jav,” she had him say, “while I go to search for the passage through the cliffs.”
She had in and disappointment, for she that there was no why she should not have him. Certainly she should have been with him than left here alone with the Lotharian.
And Jav the two and his smile.
When Carthoris had the wood, Thuvia seated herself upon the to watch the of the bowmen.
The long its way toward darkness, and still the and retreated. The sun was about to set when Tario to his slowly toward the city.
His plan for of through the night met with Jav’s entire approval, for he his to themselves in and just the of the wood, where they were soon in preparing their meal, and their sleeping and for the night.
Thuvia a as she noted the with which Jav’s men to each detail of as as if they had been and blood.
Sentries were posted the and the city. Officers and and to it that they were properly out.
Thuvia toward Jav.
“Why is it,” she asked, “that you such in the of your when Tario as well as you that they are but of your brain? Why not permit them to into thin air until you again their service?”
“You do not them,” Jav. “While they they are real. I do but call them into being now, and in a way direct their actions. But thereafter, until I them, they are as as you or I. Their officers them, under my guidance. I am the general—that is all. And the upon the enemy is than were I to them as vagaries.
“Then, too,” the Lotharian, “there is always the hope, which with us is little of belief, that some day these will into the real—that they will remain, some of them, after we have their fellows, and that thus we shall have a means for our race.
“Some there are who already to have the thing. It is that the have a among their number who are permanent materializations. It is said that such is Tario, but that cannot be, for he we had the full possibilities of suggestion.
“There are others among us who that none of us is real. That we not have all these without material food and water had we ourselves been material. Although I am a realist, I toward this myself.
“It well and upon the that our their such that some of the minds among them after the death of their bodies—that we are but the minds of long dead.
“It would appear possible, and yet in so as I am I have all the of existence. I eat, I sleep”—he paused, a meaning look upon the girl—“I love!”
Thuvia not mistake the meaning of his and expression. She away with a little of that was not upon the Lotharian.
He came close to her and her arm.
“Why not Jav?” he cried. “Who more than the second of the world’s most race? Your Heliumite? He has gone. He has you to your to save himself. Come, be Jav’s!”
Thuvia of Ptarth rose to her full height, her toward the man, her upraised, a to her lips.
“You lie!” she said quietly, “the Heliumite less of than he of fear, and of he is as as the young.”
“Then where is he?” the Lotharian. “I tell you he has the valley. He has left you to your fate. But Jav will see that it is a one. To-morrow we shall return into Lothar at the of my army, and I shall be and you shall be my consort. Come!” And he to her to his breast.
The girl to free herself, at the man with her metal armlets. Yet still he her toward him, until were by a that from the dark close them.
